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German skeleton slider Marion Trott pulled off something of a surprise victory at the Whistler Sliding Centre last winter, but the 2009 world champion surely won’t be able to slip in under the radar when the big show comes to town in February 2010.
Trott earned her first-ever World Cup victory on the fast and technical Whistler track in February 2009, slipping into the golden position by 0.53 seconds over runner-up Amy Williams of Great Britain after her lightning-quick two runs.
In Whistler for two weeks to slide in the training sessions for international competitors on the 2010 Olympic track, Trott told The Question that she thinks the Whistler Sliding Centre offers her kind of course.
“It’s a really difficult and really fast track, and really challenging. It’s really a track for me, I think, because I’m more of a slider, I’m not so good on the push. I need such difficult tracks,” Trott said.
In Whistler, Trott posted start times of 5.17 and 5.14 seconds in her two runs, marginally among the slower start times logged by the elite World Cup competitors in that event. By comparison, bronze medallist and fellow German slider Anja Huber started her Whistler race runs with times of 4.98 and 4.97 seconds, among the fastest in the competition.
But Trott’s total two-run time was 0.85 seconds faster than Huber’s. Asked just how she’s able to make up for those snippets of lost time in her blisteringly fast sport, Trott said she wasn’t certain, but she talked about the little things, the minute movements and adjustments that others standing outside of the track might not be able to glimpse.
“I think I have a good feeling for the corners, and for the sled,” suggested Trott, who started her adventures in sliding through a school luge program.
During her training in Whistler this fall, Trott said she’s reached speeds around 138 kilometres per hour, the fastest she has slid anywhere in the world.
“Of course I like the speed,” she said of her sport. “I like such tracks like Whistler.”
Trott said she also enjoys the natural surroundings in Whistler — even the bears.
“We were excited to see a bear. We saw one on the track,” she said, laughingly describing the encounter, and admitting she doesn’t much like big cities.
The Whistler World Cup proved to be a pivotal point in Trott’s already strong season. After capturing a silver medal in the World Cup race held the next week, she went on to beat out Williams once again to claim the title of world champion in Lake Placid in February, winning by 0.59 seconds with her four-run total time.
Trott then closed out the World Cup season with another golden performance in Park City, winning the last race by 0.31 seconds over American Katie Uhlaender — who finished fourth at the Whistler World Cup — while Canadian star Mellisa Hollingsworth captured bronze.
“The last races from Whistler to the world championships were amazing. I was surprised too, though, a little,” Trott admitted.
Her best finish of the World Cup season before arriving in Whistler was a bronze medal-winning performance in January, accompanied by four other top-seven results. By the end of the 2008-’09 season, Trott sat atop the overall FIBT and World Cup women’s skeleton rankings.
